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04.10.21 - 16:30 CET
CHALLENGER MEN - SINGLES: Barcelona (Spain), clay - 1/16-finals
Timofey Skatov, after a successful summer (when he got to Final in Almaty, QF in Perguia, SF in Trieste and last SF in Kiev) is experiencing a slight drop in results at the moment, but I still see him as a strong favourite in the match with Guinard.
Recently he tried at the home ATP, where he even knocked out Seppi (95.) after 2:1, Skatov played a downright unsuccessful tournament only this week in Murcia, where he was quite clearly beaten by Kuhn. Skatov is otherwise showing great progress in this season, which he started on ITFs, he is very strong from the baseline, he makes minimum mistakes in exchanges and I think that could apply to Guinard.
Manuel Guinard although he has a good clay score of 27-17 this year, he recorded a big part of it a few months ago, when he first won 2 ITF titles in a row and then had the tournament of his life at the Challenger when he reached the final at home in Provence, beating Ymer or Carballes. But since then he won only 3 matches out of 11 on clay (2 of them on ITF), he also lost to Krstin or Janvier and during his last stop in Bosnia he got injured in the 1st gam against Martin. Then he played a home tournament in Rennes, where he made it through the qualification, but then he was clearly beaten by Safiullina and he is returning to clay after a month break, which I think must be noticeable at least in the beginning.
I don't think Skatov is an ideal opponent to return to clay after a month, because he can return a lot of things and that might not suit Guinard, who played his last match on September 14. It's not a sure bet, but I like Skatov better on clay in the long run, plus he's more rangy and could win this match.
Timofey Skatov to win @ 1.66 (bet365)
CHALLENGER MEN - SINGLES: Barcelona (Spain), clay - 1/16-finals
Timofey Skatov, after a successful summer (when he got to Final in Almaty, QF in Perguia, SF in Trieste and last SF in Kiev) is experiencing a slight drop in results at the moment, but I still see him as a strong favourite in the match with Guinard.
Recently he tried at the home ATP, where he even knocked out Seppi (95.) after 2:1, Skatov played a downright unsuccessful tournament only this week in Murcia, where he was quite clearly beaten by Kuhn. Skatov is otherwise showing great progress in this season, which he started on ITFs, he is very strong from the baseline, he makes minimum mistakes in exchanges and I think that could apply to Guinard.
Manuel Guinard although he has a good clay score of 27-17 this year, he recorded a big part of it a few months ago, when he first won 2 ITF titles in a row and then had the tournament of his life at the Challenger when he reached the final at home in Provence, beating Ymer or Carballes. But since then he won only 3 matches out of 11 on clay (2 of them on ITF), he also lost to Krstin or Janvier and during his last stop in Bosnia he got injured in the 1st gam against Martin. Then he played a home tournament in Rennes, where he made it through the qualification, but then he was clearly beaten by Safiullina and he is returning to clay after a month break, which I think must be noticeable at least in the beginning.
I don't think Skatov is an ideal opponent to return to clay after a month, because he can return a lot of things and that might not suit Guinard, who played his last match on September 14. It's not a sure bet, but I like Skatov better on clay in the long run, plus he's more rangy and could win this match.
Timofey Skatov to win @ 1.66 (bet365)
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